The Beatles 'Glass Onion' by Alasdair + Jock

Promo News - 5th Nov 2018

Trunk directors Alasdair + Jock have created a video for The Beatles' Glass Onion, a fabulous mixed media work that celebrates the Fab Four at the time of the creation of The White Album, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month.

This vibrant piece utilizes existing footage of the band, circa 1968, in a way that reflects the decision-making process that led to the artwork of the album itself, through the eyes of artist Richard Hamilton (who created the famous all-white cover of The Beatles, the album's official title) and Paul McCartney. As the track plays, images are added and removed, elements are coloured and manipulated, film footage is run and spliced, and drawn elements are brought to life.

Alasdair and Jock Mooney, together with producers Richard Barnett and Layla Atkinson, were given access to both Apple Corps Ltd.’s archive and Paul McCartney’s personal archive. They have included images, and footage from Beatles' promos made at the time, to tell the stories behind the creation and distribution of the album, as well as images that reflect John Lennon's self-referencing lyrics to Glass Onion.

And the team have used a plethora of techniques – stop motion, live action, hand drawn 2D on paper, 3D modelling, scratch film, rostrum cut out replacements, pixilation, hand painted artworking, plus motion control - to bring the piece alive.

ALASDAIR + JOCK:

“Working on such an important album was an honour, and it was great to work with Apple's archivist Aaron Bremner, who was able to supply high quality footage for some of the most abstract references! It was key for us to get the right images to tell the story of not only the poster, but the album and all those involved with it. Hopefully we’ve captured a part of the magic, the frenzy and turbulent process of making such an amazing album.”